If you want to know what a community cares about, look at where it directs its generosity. Your local community foundation’s impact report puts those choices on display. At Manatee Community Foundation, this year’s report begins with a figure that makes me pause: 1,156 grants. Behind that number are not simply transactions, but individuals, families, and legacy builders making intentional decisions about the causes and organizations they believe in. I think about the many separate philanthropic decisions that number represents, and the ripple effects of the generosity that fueled them.

Those grants directed more than $6 million toward meaningful charitable work and scholarships. The scale is remarkable. More revealing, though, is what the grants tell us about the needs our donors recognize in our community, and the future they want to help create. The numbers are a measure of dollars, but they are also a measure of trust—donors entrusting their resources to organizations and causes that matter deeply to them.

Our impact report shows where much of that generosity went. Health and Human Services was our largest area of grantmaking, with $2.21 million supporting organizations that address disability services and healthcare, housing, food assistance, and other basic needs. Education accounted for nearly $1.5 million dedicated to educational programs, early learning and childcare, and traditional or vocational scholarships. And behind these categories, the sobering reality: our ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families and neighbors trying to find food and housing security, get the care they need, invest in their children’s education, or invest in themselves by continuing their education.

Grants also supported arts and culture, animal welfare, foster care family support, and civic engagement. That breadth is possible because philanthropy is personal. Donors come to MCF with different values, experiences, and priorities, and they advise on grants that reflect what they are about most. Some are responding to immediate needs, and others are investing in a long-term vision. Together, they’re allowing grantmaking to reach many dimensions of life.

MCF also awarded 73 competitive grants totaling $420,900. This is an important part of our role, but it is only one part of the story. Through a new, simplified grant application process, we partner with nonprofits to learn about the challenges they face in meeting community needs and to support their growth and expansion. These partnerships, along with nonprofits’ direct knowledge of the communities they serve, help us determine where funding can have the greatest impact. Just as importantly, our fundholders are active partners in that impact—using their own charitable priorities and knowledge of the community to recommend where resources should go.

How funding was awarded also tells us something about what nonprofits need as organizations. Program grants often draw the most attention because their purpose is easy to see, but every program depends on the daily work of a stable organization. Among the grants we could classify by request type, more than half of the dollars provided general operating support. This flexible funding helps nonprofits cover everyday costs and adjust when circumstances change. It gives organizations the stability to serve people well, and it shows confidence in the leaders closest to the work. It is the best type of funding we can provide, and we encourage our donors to walk alongside us as well.

I’m especially struck by what the numbers reveal about individual philanthropy. MCF donors recommended 841 grants, totaling $2.73 million. Every one of those recommendations began with an individual or family deciding where they wanted to make a difference. Seeing the full number reminds me how personal philanthropy is, and how much those individual acts can accomplish. MCF provides the structure, expertise, and community knowledge that turns those intentions into action and helps connect that giving spirit with organizations, causes, and projects that can exponentially amplify their impact.

Of course, some needs can’t be planned for. Six disaster resiliency and Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) grants directed more than $325,000 into resiliency efforts. This reminds us of the critical role community foundations like MCF must play to move resources quickly in blue or gray skies.

An impact report may not read like a page-turner, with all its figures and percentages. Look more closely, though, and it tells a story about hundreds of choices that put generosity to work.

When I look at this year’s report, I see MCF’s promises in action:

We Grow Together. We Build On Legacy. We Lift Community.

Every grant is one way we fulfill that promise. Whether a fundholder is making a grant today to address an urgent need, investing in an organization’s future, or creating a legacy that will give for generations, each decision adds to a larger story of generosity and impact. Together, these choices help build a better Manatee—now and forever.

Simone Peterson is the Community Investment Officer of Manatee Community Foundation.